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Superheroes incorporate and go very, very bad in The Boys on Amazon Prime.

A ragtag gang of vigilantes takes on a powerful group of corrupt and venal superheroes in The Boys, Amazon's adaptation of the comic books series of the same name by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson.

Ennis is also the creative mind behind Preacher, and he once said he intended The Boys to "out-Preacher, Preacher" in terms of the extreme violence and sexual content. It just so happens that the TV adaptation of Preacher started airing its fourth and final season on AMC. The two definitely share the Ennis sensibility, but much as I love Preacher, this adaptation of The Boys is even better. It's ideal late-summer therapy for anyone who has grown a bit weary of the constant onslaught of superhero movies.

(Mild spoilers below.)

The Boys is set in a fictional version of 2006-2008, where superheroes are real but corrupted by corporate interests and a toxic celebrity-obsessed culture. Billy Butcher (played by Karl Urban) heads up a secret CIA unit assigned with monitoring (and checking) the bad behavior of the "supes"—especially The Seven, the most elite superhero squad, and hence the most corrupt. Butcher hates The Seven, especially its leader, Homelander, who raped his wife, and he recruits an equally traumatized young man named Hugh "Hughie" Campbell to help in his revenge. At the same time, an idealistic young woman with powers, Starlight (real name: Annie January), has just joined the ranks of The Seven, but the harsh reality of her coveted position doesn't quite match up to her dreams.

The TV adaptation preserves much of that premise with a few tweaks, like making The Boys outright vigilantes and gender-swapping Vought International VP James Stillwell (in the comics) to Madelyn Stillwell (Elisabeth Shue in the series). The show also dials back the over-the-top comic book violence a bit—a smart move, I think, since often what works on the page proves far too graphic fully realized on the screen. But that's not the same thing as watering down the original vision. The Boys TV series is every bit as wickedly funny, darkly irreverent, and unflinching in its depiction of just how violent and depraved The Seven are prepared to be.

It's a complicated plot, with lots of moving parts and twists, but it mostly makes sense. The writers also nailed the pacing, weaving together all those disparate narrative threads into a seamless action-packed whole that never lags, yet never seems rushed. But much of the success of this series is due to the careful development of its central characters—no easy feat, given the sheer size of this ensemble cast—and powerfully nuanced performances across the board. Each character has a fascinating backstory, with secret vulnerabilities and believable motivations. Nobody is entirely good or evil—with the possible exception of Starlight (Erin Moriarty), the closest thing to a genuine superhero in the series, and Homelander (Antony Starr), a genuine psychopath.

Starr is positively chilling in this role, switching between his charming public persona and his violent private one with ease, but his camera-ready smile never reaches his cold, hard eyes. Karl Urban brings just the right mix of menacing violence and cheeky charm to his portrayal of Butcher. It's a joy watching him debate a flustered born-again Christian at Believe Expo or whooping with delight when a baby supe gets The Boys out of tight spot by zapping their attackers with its laser eyes. But he's also so obsessively focused on taking his revenge against Homelander that he lets his anger and violent nature run amok and put his own team in needless danger. In that respect, the two are more alike than Butcher might care to admit.

If Butcher is the mirror image of Homelander, then Hughie (Jack Quaid) mirrors Starlight (Erin Moriarty) as the two naively innocent newcomers. He is driven by the desire for vengeance on A-Train (Jessie T. Usher), a member of The Seven. A-Train used his super-speed to literally run through Hughie's girlfriend, Robin, one fateful day, killing her instantly. Starlight earnestly wants to save the world and use her powers for good; it's a brutal shock when her first encounter with The Deep (Chace Crawford) involves him forcing her to perform a sexual act.

As for The Deep, he's pretty much the comic relief of The Seven, mostly relegated to the sidelines unless water is involved. Sure, he can talk to fish and breathe underwater. All that gets him is propositioned by a horny dolphin he rescues from an aquarium—with typically disastrous results—and a kinky sexual encounter with a woman obsessed with his gills. One might call it karmic payback.

Amazon has already given the green light for a second season of The Boys, which is very good news, considering season one ends on a major cliffhanger. If these first eight episodes are any indication, season two should be bloody, brilliant, and downright bonkers.

Yeah, enjoyed the show very much, but i also like Preacher and similar shows like Happy.

The theme of the corrupt superhero is really fitting right now, not only because of superhero fatigue, but also because it seems to be a much more realistic scenario of how superheros would work in this society, which it satirizes heavily.

It's the central mystery at the heart of the plot! That's very much a spoiler, and if you're still about, for the sake of people who're here having not watched the show yet, I'd advise that you hide it.

Very much enjoyed The Boys, although the ending was a bit weird. Normally you get some pay-off in a season but that felt like a mid-season cliffhanger for a one week hiatus while some sporting event is on.

Love the comic and I've only watched just the first episode a few nights ago. I was really worried about how they would translate Ennis' work for television (I haven't watched Preacher).

I'm okay with most of the changes, but Wee Hughie to TV Hughie kinda bugs me. In the comics, He has the "stranger in a strange land" going by being a Scot in the US, rather than a New Yorker; that really drives home how out of his element he is. Secondly, Wee Hughie is more like the bad luck magnet while TV Hughie has no backbone (I forget what Simon Pegg said - nice touch on that).

Other than that, I think the show got the tone right, or close enough to be enjoyable. I'll watch the rest of the season.

BTW, for any comic fan who hasn't read The Boys, I don't recommend it. Yes, the high concept of "Garth Ennis vs the Watchmen" sounds great, but it's terribly misogynistic even by Ennis standards, and Butcher is an annoyingly arrogant Marty Stu who I couldn't root for.

I'm surprisingly happy with the TV series. In particular, Butcher is fallible, he doesn't have a rape dog, and the scene where he goes to see his former boss excellently subverts the corresponding scene in the comic.

I was initially annoyed that they switched the "Starlight welcome" scene...

Spoiler: show

from Homelander to The Deep, but this version's reveal of Homelander's personality plays out so well that

Is there some way I can get a notification when the superhero thing is over?

I am not into superheroes myself. I did not view it as being about them in the conventional sense, but as a satire on corporate capture, celebrity, and the usual fare of secret quasi-governmental agencies saving us from the power of evil. As such, I enjoyed it.

BTW, for any comic fan who hasn't read The Boys, I don't recommend it. Yes, the high concept of "Garth Ennis vs the Watchmen" sounds great, but it's terribly misogynistic even by Ennis standards, and Butcher is an annoyingly arrogant Marty Stu who I couldn't root for.

You "advise"....ok, i'll take that under advisement and think about it for a minute.....hmmmm...nope

Well, I imagine the downvotes will take care of that shortly.

ohhhhh... not the down votes! Noooooooo!

LoL

Just for that i'm gonna keep commenting. For every down vote i'm going to comment again and reveal the whole thing.

not really

The article clearly says there are spoilers with "(Mild spoilers below.)". So by reading the article alone you already gotten spoilers yet no one is complaining about those. All I'm doing is just commenting on that already exposed in the article.

I did not create and post a spoiler, the article author did. Its a comment section intended to be used for commenting on the article and that's what I have done. What I have commented are not spoilers, as the spoiler was already exposed in the article its self and all I've done is comment on the article.

so down vote away, I'm still gonna comment if I want.

The article also gives a spoiler warning so that anyone who wishes can skip that portion. You did not, which is why people were asking for you to hide your spoilers so those who have seen the show can click to look if they wish. it's standard practice when discussing new shows.

Mild spoilers = things revealed in the first episode, like homelander isn't the standup perfect superhero he purports to be. Also, some basic motivations for characters, like Billy's hatred for supes.Your spoilers = Things that are central to the plot of the season arc or things revealed late stages of the story, like the twist at the end of the season. Also, nothing in season one supports your statements about homelander. He has to question people repeatedly to get the info shown at the conclusion...ie HE DIDN"T KNOW BEFORE THEN.

If the info isn't in the trailer (and even then sometimes it is an issue) or press synopsis it probably isn't a spoiler to most people. If it occurs in the first 1-2 episodes it is probably a minor spoiler, unless it results in major consequences going forward that aren't revealed in the trailer or synopsis. Otherwise, it's going to be a spoiler to most people. For the sake of civility, maybe just respect that not everyone will see spoilery info the same way you do.

(Edit: BTW, that ending isn't really a "cliffhanger". A cliffhanger is when you have a plot building all season long and then have to wait till the next season for the plot points presented throughout the current season to be resolved. What you have here is just a tease for the second season by offering a glimpse of the new plot points to be explored. A cliffhanger is an insult to viewers and thoroughly unsatisfying. A tease on the other hand offers a satisfying resolution and gives you something promising to look forward to. Very well done.)

Given that Hughie and Butcher are a team (at least initially), the distinction wasn't sufficient. I wasn't willing to root for either side of the conflict and dropped it pretty early.

Garth Ennis's ideas are fascinating and wickedly funny, but after Hellblazer (when he became a big name in comics) his intentionally-gratuitous obscenity and twistedness is often too gratuitous for me to enjoy. I had a similar problem with Preacher, and similarly prefer the TV version over it.

Given that Hughie and Butcher are a team (at least initially), the distinction wasn't sufficient. I wasn't willing to root for either side of the conflict and dropped it pretty early.

Garth Ennis's ideas are fascinating and wickedly funny, but after Hellblazer (when he became a big name in comics) his intentionally-gratuitous obscenity and twistedness is often too gratuitous for me to enjoy. I had a similar problem with Preacher, and similarly prefer the TV version over it.

Spoiler: show

If you had read it all the way through you would realize that butcher isn't someone to root for, because he's the supervillain. All the capes that get killed by him were generally either heroes or antiheroes, but none were as evil as butcher. Yet, since the comic series isn't black and white, even butcher is still a shade of gray, thinking he's doing the right thing.

In the end the comic series seems mainly to be the story of Hughie's coming of age mentally, and in that respect, it was good.

It’s an excellent show with excellent pacing, pretty good lighting, and the tone and tenor of the show is a perfect match to Garth Ennis’ writing in the comic book. And it’s really funny.

It never forgets that regardless of whatever role a character has, from superhero to corporate executive — everyone has a goal and that goal is often ill-conceived and idealistic in a story world that often plays the antagonist.

Should be good. The comics definitely were way too dark and twisted for my tastes (a dog that could rape on command? :? WTH is he doing with that rodent??? :?) but I absolutely adored the premise.

Hoping for at least a cameo by Simon Pegg.

Consider your hopes met several times over...

It's a great series, with some genuinely chilling moments. I was afraid we'd have cookie cutter good and bad guys. We have precisely one per side (Starlight as the perfect good struggling hero and Homelander who is plain scary in every single scene, esp. when he acts normal!). This can only be deliberate. They are outnumbered by a much wider slate of various characters with very different motivations in the grey area between those polar opposites, enough that you can't simply say all Supes are bad, though they may need a good kick in the ass...